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Amanda Schaefer's blog

We’ve probably all heard it before. We need to find renewable fuel sources that can keep up with the energy demands of our twenty-first century lifestyles. Coal, oil, and natural gas are not considered sustainable; once we burn them, they’re gone. It is predicted that the earth contains enough fossil fuels to last us hundreds of years, but once the fossil fuels they run out, our energy source is depleted. It may seem like we have plenty of time to develop better energy solutions. But what about the raising average temperature of the earth, melting ice caps, rising sea levels, and changing weather and climate?

Water. Everybody needs it to survive. We even found it on Mars. Water covers roughly 71 percent of the earth’s surface, but the amount of potable water that is safe for human consumption is at risk due to water shortages and poor water quality around the world. As a result, water scarcity affects over one billion people worldwide. For various reasons such as water overuse, pollution, drought, war, or distance, people cannot get the water they need. It affects places on every continent from developing countries to the United States, including Flint, Michigan, which has had lead-contaminated water, and even the Atlanta metro area has recently entered a severe drought. With the problem in our backyard, the Living Building Challenge urges us to respect water as a precious resource and redefines how we treat our water sources.

Place is the first of seven Petals, or categories, that comprise the Living Building Challenge, and rightly so. All of the elements required for a self-sustaining building are dependent on its location. The climate, region, and natural topography of the project site must be taken into careful consideration because the built environment should seamlessly coexist with its natural surroundings. A living building must be well adapted for its environment so that it can generate energy, capture and treat water, and grow food in the most efficient way.